


Endangered

by Dixxy



Category: Captain America (2011), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-16
Updated: 2012-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-12 06:04:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dixxy/pseuds/Dixxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve wants to ask Natasha out on a date and thinks a quiet walk in the woods is the best place to go. And then a bear chases them up a tree.</p><p>Written for shieldandgun's weekly writing challenge on Tumblr, winner of Week 5!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Endangered

**Author's Note:**

> Story Title: Endangered  
> Prompt: **snow** , clock, **bear** , amber, **seven**  
>  Rating: PG  
> Genre: Humor, mild romance  
> Universe: MCU  
> Word Count: 1,000

            Since it was winter, Tony had a home in Montana, and someone thought it would be a good idea to go on an Avengers ski trip, the team was staying at the villa. Steve was particularly impressed – growing up, he’d avoided snow because of his health problems and during the war he didn’t have a lot of time to appreciate how the European landscape looked when blanketed in white.

            Tony’s villa was out of the way, with trees and mountains making up most of the view. Steve spent their first morning there just sitting by a large picture window with a cup of hot cocoa, enjoying what Mother Nature had provided. When saw Natasha admiring the landscape, she commented that it might be nice to go for a walk in the woods, and he got a “brilliant idea”.

            This “brilliant idea” blew up in his face.

            After a breakfast of Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream with the team, Steve asked Natasha if she’d like to go on a walk. She smiled, said she would love to, and went to collect the appropriate gear. Steve smiled – he’d been smitten with the Black Widow for a while but hadn’t been sure how ask her out, and although this was not a “date”, it was alone time with her.

            For twenty minutes things were going great – Natasha seemed to be enjoying herself, they were having a lovely conversation, and maybe Steve was going to find the courage to ask her out to dinner. Yes – that would make this outing perfect.

            Unfortunately there was a bear that felt differently.

            Steve and Natasha had walked through the creature’s territory, and it was not happy about getting a visit, even from Captain America and the Black Widow. So the grizzly bear got behind them, stood on his back legs, and roared angrily.

            Steve and Natasha froze.

            “Bear?” asked Steve.

            Natasha nodded. “Grizzly.”

            “Fight or flee?”

            “It’s endangered.”

            “Flee?”

            “Yes.”

            They bolted, the grizzly bear hot on their tail. Looking for a safe way out and surprised that the bear was able to keep up with them, Steve grabbed Natasha and squirreled his way up a tree, out of the bear’s reach.

            That was seven hours ago. They’d named the bear Winnie the Pooh.

            “At least he’s not trying to get up here,” Steve bemoaned. He and Natasha had found a branch out of Winnie’s reach sturdy enough to support them, which is where they stayed. The super soldier was bitter about how things had turned out – getting chased up a tree was not a good way to ask a dame out on a date.

            “Indeed. Persistent, though, isn’t he?” Natasha was squatting on the branch, observing Pooh from above and trying to evaluate their best course of action. “Any idea what grizzly bear nervous systems are like?”

            “Um . . . no?” Steve offered.

            “Well, I don’t want to kill Pooh, but maybe I can stun him or something.”

            Steve stared at her in disbelief. “You want to find the bear’s pressure points?”

            “Yeah, sure, why not?”

            “Don’t bears have really thick skin under that fur coat?” Steve really didn’t know much about bears or pressure points, but he didn’t think Natasha knew enough about bear pressure points to safely attempt anything. He gave her a look to try and dissuade her.

            “Fine. But do you have any bright ideas?”

            “He’s got to get hungry or tired eventually. Then we run like hell back to the villa.” Steve pointed to where they could barely see the roof of the house. “At least we still know how to get home. We just need to be patient and he’ll leave us alone.”

            Pooh roared and started clawing at the tree trunk.

            “Want to play ‘I Spy with My Little Eye’ again?” Natasha offered.

            “We’ve spied everything we can see – twice,” Steve grumbled.

            “Grumpy because your plan to ask me out didn’t go according to plan?”

            “Yeah, you could – wait, what?”

            Natasha chuckled, kissing Steve’s cheek and holding his hand. “You’re not exactly subtle.”

            “Oh.” Steve blushed. “Really?”

            “Yes. And I don’t blame you for the bear’s actions. You tried. Gold star.”

            Steve lowered his eyes. He didn’t want a gold star for trying.

            Natasha pressed herself closer to him. “It’s a bit cold,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder. Steve’s eyes popped open in surprise. “Would you mind warming me up?”

            Steve wordlessly unzipped his jacket. “We can share,” he said quietly. Natasha obliged, moving enough for her friend to slip his arm out of the sleeve and around her shoulders. She grinned at him, and Steve swallowed nervously.

            “If you’re afraid of me you can try your luck with Pooh Bear down there.”

            Steve stayed quiet.

            Natasha laughed and nuzzled closer to Steve. “Picking me? Good choice.”

            Steve laughed nervously and heard his stomach rumble. “Oops. Sorry.”

            “Don’t – your metabolism runs high. We’ll we go get a nice, romantic dinner after this,” Natasha purred. She winked at him. “And maybe we can do dessert after.”

            Steve was pretty sure “dessert” was what he used to think “fondue” meant.

            The super soldier started looking around for options. There were more branches around, and that was really all they had access to. “Idea,” he said, snapping off a branch. Natasha raised an eyebrow at him as Steve looked over his stick. He looked down at Pooh, whistled, and threw the branch away from Tony’s villa.

            Pooh scampered after it.

            Natasha gave him a look. “Couldn’t think of that until I offered dessert?”

            “He’s a bear, not a dog – didn’t think it would work.”

            The Black Widow chuckled and slipped out of his jacket to start climbing over Steve and down the tree. “Let’s get back before Pooh Bear realizes he’s been had.”

            Steve smiled as he landed in the snow. “Of course.” He paused. “So, where would you like to go for dinner?”

            Natasha grinned as she took his hand. “I could go for Italian.”


End file.
